R v R and Times Newspapers Ltd [2017] EWCA Civ 1588

Facts:

  • W applied for financial relief pursuant to Part III of the MCA 1973 and pursuant to Schedule 1 to the CA 1989.
  • During the proceedings, H appealed on a point of jurisdiction. H’s appeal was unsuccessful in the Court of Appeal and the published judgment was anonymised by reason of a reporting restriction.
  • Upon conclusion of the substantive applications, Moor J discharged the Court of Appeal’s order for reporting restrictions.
  • H appealed the decision on the basis that:
    1. his right to life under Article 2 of the ECHR was engaged and that Moor J had found as much;
    2. Moor J had not properly balanced a consideration of Article 8 and Article 10; and
  • it runs contrary to s.97 of the CA 1989, which prohibits publication of material likely to identify any child in the proceedings.

Held:

  • H’s appeal was dismissed.
  • The Court of Appeal held that Moor J had not made a finding that Article 2 was engaged, and if he had done so, he would not have moved on to balance Article 8 and Article 10.
  • It was unsatisfactory that H had not first sought to clarify Moor J’s findings prior to the appeal.
  • The provisions of s.97 relate only to extant proccedings under the CA 1989; here they had been concluded.
  • Although judgment was handed down prior to that in Norman v Norman [2017] EWCA Civ 49, the approach of Moor J was consonant with that of the Court of Appeal in Publication was therefore allowed, to the extent that it did not breach previous injunctions in the case.